Edward/Behind the Scenes
Background Information The Railway Series Edward is a fictional standard gauge tender locomotive created by the Rev. W. Awdry. He was the first character created for the Railway Series. Edward lives and works on the North Western Railway as their No. 2 engine. He first appeared in the Railway Series book, The Three Railway Engines, which was published in 1945. His last appearance was in Thomas and his Friends, published in 2011. Front of Edward: File:MainEdwardRWS1.png|1923 Edward as illustrated by William Middleton (1945) File:EdwardillustratedbyReginaldPayne.png|1924/5 Edward as illustrated by Reginald Payne (1946) File:EdwardillustratedbyCReginaldDalby.png|1952 Edward as illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby (1955) File:EdwardillustratedbyJohnTKenney.png|1959 Edward as illustrated by John T. Kenney (1960) File:EdwardillustratedbyGunvorandPeterEdwards.png|1962 Edward as illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards (1963) File:Edward1980annual.png|1980 Edward as illustrated by Edgar Hodges (1980) File:EdwardillustratedbyJoLawrence.png|1985 Edward as illustrated by Jo Lawrence (1985) File:EdwardillustratedbyStephenLings.png|1952 Edward as illustrated by Stephen Lings (1990) File:MainEdwardRWS2.png|2007 Edward as illustrated by Clive Spong (2007) Rear of Edward: File:EdwardillustratedbyWilliamMiddleton.png|1923 Edward as illustrated by William Middleton (1945) File:EdwardillustratedbyCReginaldDalby2.png|1935 Edward as illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby (1951) File:EdwardillustratedbyJohnTKenney2.png|1957 Edward as illustrated by John T. Kenny (1958) File:EdwardillustratedbyGunvorandPeterEdwards2.png|1965 Edward as illustrated by Gunvor and Peter Edwards (1966) File:EdwardillustratedbyCliveSpong.png|1986 Edward as illustrated by Clive Spong (1986) Inspiration The inspiration for Edward himself came from the Rev W. Awdry watching trains on the Great Western Railway as a child. He said in an interview with Brian Sibley for The Thomas the Tank Engine Man that, to him, the noise of the locomotives' exhaust almost sounded like dialogue - for example, the larger engine having trouble climbing the hills would appear to be saying, "I can't do it, I can't do it" and the smaller engine helping them would sound like it was saying, "I will do it! I will do it! I will do it!" Later, the Reverend Awdry told his son a bedtime story about an engine who was sad because he was never taken out of the shed for being old. Upon being asked what the engine's name was by his son, the Reverend Awdry picked the name "Edward" out of thin air. Television Series Edward was introduced to the television series in 1984 when the first series premiered, and has appeared in every series since. In the eighth series, Edward was among the members of the Steam Team, the main cast of eight central characters. However, following the twenty-second series, Edward was removed from the Steam Team in favour for Nia to join in order to fix the gender imbalance at Tidmouth Sheds and diversify the Thomas and Friends franchise. He now appears as a major supporting character. Behind the Scenes Awdry's model File:TheReverend'sEdwardmodel.jpg File:File-K.M.R. Ltd kit advertisement|Advertisement of the K.M.R 2P kit that Awdry used to build his Edward. Gauge 1 model Edward’s original model was custom built with a perspex body shell and used a Märklin locomotive as a donor for the chassis and various parts. It was painted using automotive paint and lined with red automotive pinstripe tape with the numbers being custom cut vinyl stickers. Edward’s drive wheels and tender wheels was sourced from a gauge 1 locomotive made by Märklin, the BR 55, and the bogie wheels were from a bogie of the BR 78. The front bufferbeam came from the BR 78 and the rear bufferbeam came from the BR 55. The handrails were also sourced from Märklin locomotives. Edward’s perspex model was originally AC powered as this is how the Märklin locomotives were powered. During a refurbishment his AC motor was replaced by a DC motor to allow for easier running and maintenance. File:Edward&OldCoaches.jpg File:RobertGauldGalliersAndEdward.jpg File:Edward'sModelSpecification.PNG|Edward's model specifications File:Edward_front_contact_sheet.jpg File:Edward_side_contact_sheet.png During the production of the tenth series two new models of Edward were built. This was due to the original model being twenty-two years old at this point and the tight filming schedules meant there was very little room for emergency repairs."ThomasTankMerch's blogspot - Plastic or Brass?" The new models were made out of brass and equipped with a CNC machined aluminum chassis powered by a DC motor. From this point the perspex model would only appear in scenes that would damage the brass models. File:EdwardStrikesOut84.png|Edward's brass model The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eye balls were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eye balls would move however the crew member desired. Sixteen different facial expressions were sculpted for Edward. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made of a silicone mould. Some of Edward’s faces were duplicated in case the crew needed to a face to look dirty and clean on the same day of shooting. One of Edward's screen used and production made face masks are now owned by Twitter user ThomasTankMerch. File:WhistlesandSneezes7.png|Edward's original smiling face that only appeared in the first series (1984) File:Escape9.png|Edward's angry face gained some teeth in the third series... (1992) File:Edward'sBrassBand43.png|...until they disappeared in the seventh series (2003) File:Percy'sBigMistake95.png|Edward's sleepy face which was made sometime before or during the sixth series, and only appeared in the eighth series episodes, Percy's Big Mistake and Thomas, Emily and the Snowplough (2002, 2004) File:YouCanDoItToby8.png|Edward wearing his wincing face mask in the eighth series episode You Can Do it, Toby!. It was possibly made during the second series for the adaptation of Edward's Exploit, as it bears a resemblance to a face he made in the original story from The Railway Series book, Main Line Engines. (2004-2007) The twelfth series marked the beginning of the show's transition into CGI and the characters' faces were animated through CGI with the aid of motion capture animation. The physical models' molded faces were replaced by white targets with triangles to fix a computer-animated face in post-production. Edward’s resin faces were only used in background shots. File:SteadyEddie3.png File:HenryGetsItWrong15.png File:JamesWorksItOut31.png Edward’s gauge 1 models had gone through several aesthetic changes in the television series: * Series 3: ** Edward's angry face gains some teeth. * Series 4: ** The lining on his wheel arches became slightly thinner and moved outward. ** His whistle was at a lower pitch. * Series 5: ** In Happy Ever After, his whistle returned to its original pitch. * Series 6: ** His paint was given a matte finish. ** His safety valve disappeared. ** His eyebrows become smaller and longer and are raised up slightly. * Series 7: ** The teeth on his angry face disappeared for the rest of the model era. * Series 8: ** His eyebrows become thinner. * Calling All Engines!: ** His eyebrows are lowered and become even thinner. * Series 10: ** The riveting on his front bufferbeam disappeared. ** His buffers were moved downward and widened in length. * Series 12: **His face became bigger, now matching his smokebox/boiler size. ** His pupils also became smaller. ** His eyebrows become thicker and change shape. ** The gap between his second and third boiler bands became larger. In a deleted scene, Edward does not have coal parts on his tender in the episode, Edward's Brass Band. File:Edward'sBrassBand55.png Edward has been seen mistakenly wearing James’ faces in Edward and Gordon and a promotional image for the first series, and one of Donald and Douglas’ faces in Saved from Scrap. File:EdwardwithJames'face.jpg File:EdwardandGordon54.png File:SavedfromScrap20.png Donald has also been seen mistakenly wearing Edward’s angry facemask in Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree. File:ThomasandtheMissingChristmasTree16.png Both of Edward’s brass models are now on display. One is on display at Drayton Manor, and the other is at the Hara Model Railway Museum. The model that is on display at Hara Model Railway Museum had previously been on display at Nitrogen Studios. File:EdwardDraytonManor.jpg|Edward's model at Drayton Manor File:DraytonManor2018Edward.jpg|Current state (2018) of Edward's model at Drayton Manor, Courtesy of Wylie (Forrest) Queenan. https://twitter.com/Wylie_Forrest_Q File:EdwardNitrogenStudios.png|Edward's model at Nitrogen Studios File:EdwardHaraRailwayModel.jpg|Edward's model at the Hara Model Railway Museum Close-up model A close-up model of Edward was built to be used for scenes where he had to interact with the close-up scale figures. Initially, this model only consisted of his cab and a small section of his firebox. In scenes where a tender was required, Gordon's close-up tender was used, with the number being strategically hidden. At some point between the second series and The Great Discovery, a tender was eventually built for Edward's close-up model. File:TheSadStoryOfHenry56.png File:Coal17.png File:DowntheMine67.png File:Bertie'sChase3.png|Inside Edward's cab File:Bertie'sChase7.png File:Bertie'sChase8.png|Sidney Hever, the fireman on Edward's cab roof File:Bertie'sChase11.png File:SavedfromScrap22.png|Edward's whistle File:OldIron50.png File:OldIron17.jpg|Edward's cab interior used for James in a deleted scene from Old Iron which was later re-shot with James' cab File:OldIron56.JPG|Note Edward has Gordon's close-up model tender File:Edward'sExploit45.png|Note the figures used to hide the number 4 on Gordon's tender File:TheGreatDiscovery226.png CGI model In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Edward was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. His model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software. Photographs of Edward's Gauge 1 model were used for referencing. According to Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original television series models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval. Edward's CGI model was mostly identical to his Gauge 1 model but has had modifications these include: * Hero of the Rails: ** He slightly decreased in height. ** His buffers became bigger and moved towards the centre of his bufferbeam. ** His pupils returned to their larger size. ** His roof is slightly more curved than it was in the model series. ** His whistle sound is sharper in tone. * Series 17: ** He gained a lamp and tail lamp. * Series 18: ** His handrails were painted black. * The Adventure Begins: ** His handrails were painted silver again. ** The inside of his tender became blue. ** His side rods become silver. ** He gains brake shoes behind his second driving wheels. File:EdwardCGI.png File:EdwardHeadOnCGIPromo.png|Head-on CGI promo ''Thomas & the Magic Railroad'' Edward was not in any known draft of Thomas and the Magic Railroad. According to Phil Fehrle, there was not enough screen time and opportunity to utilise him in a way that added any real value to the film. He was the only engine of the original seven created by Awdry not to appear. Voice Actors * Keith Wickham * William Hope * Mark Moraghan * Yasuhiro Takato * Nozomu Sasaki * Kan Tanaka * Øyvind Borgemoen Lyse * Herman López * Javier Olguín * Daniel Abundis * Christos Topulos * Henry König * Wojciech Chorąży * Fabrice Trojani * Petteri Hynönen * Petrus Kähkönen * Jarmo Koski * Reinder van der Naalt * Dan Schatzberg * Celso Alves * Jordi Estupiña * Anh Tuấn * Galbenisz Tomasz * Alexander Kotov * Denis Bespaliy * Anton Savenkov * Um Sang-hyun * Loukas Frangoulis References Category:Behind the Scenes Category:Images of Edward Category:Images from behind the scenes